Notes on the doings and undoings of an ancient historian, museum educator, and mom.

Thursday, November 27

Thanksgiving & the Arrival of Jeffery Alexander

Eric and I had quite a busy Thanksgiving at the Wells house, although not as busy as others. A morning phone call found both of us lounging around--me with a cup of coffee in front of the t.v. and Eric still in bed. In the small hours of Thanksgiving morning, Eric's sister, Heather, made an unexpectedly early trip to the hospital to give birth to a baby boy, Jeffery Alexander. Preparing a Thanksgiving dinner is always a lot of work, but this meant we would be short-handed. It was a busy day of cooking, but everyone pitched in and helped out. Even our friend George (seen below) got involved and prepared one of the turkeys the way it's sometimes done in England, stuffing it with sausage meatballs and covering the outside with strips of bacon. Sure, the English aren't exactly well-known for their cooking talents, but the turkey was very tasty.

By six o'clock everyone was properly stuffed, and once we could be persuaded to move again we headed for the hospital to visit Heather and the baby. Jeffery Alexander was born six pounds and a bit, and much earlier than his planned mid-December arrival. He's doing just fine, so I guess he was the better judge as to when he wanted to be born.

Uncle Eric, of course, was eager to hold his new nephew.

He was even persuaded once or twice to give Aunt Amber a turn as well, as you can see. Babies are cute and sweet when they just lay around and sleep, which is all Jeffery felt like doing at the time. I'll be watching to see how eager Uncle Eric is when he's around for the fussiness and dirty diapers. :-) His talents for diaper dodging from the infant days of Jeffery's big sister Genna are legendary, so we'll see how this time around goes.